HOPEWELL — Before the 30 guests sat down to dinner, artist Joan Needham gave them a tour of her studio, where she offered an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at her creative process.

Afterward, the painter and sculptor, her friends and a group of supporters of the Printmaking Center of New Jersey were treated to a catered dinner under the stars.

"It was truly magical," said Linda Helm Krapf, executive director of the Printmaking Center. "One big, long Tuscan-style table where everyone sits together, and the conversation flows as freely as the wine."

But the real joy, Krapf said, was listening to Needham discuss her work.

"You could see, as she talked about her paintings and her prints, how her painting informs her printmaking. It was really interesting to get inside her head," Krapf said.

And that was the point. Needham’s dinner and studio tour was a fundraiser for the Branchburg center. For $250, each guest was treated to dinner from a local farm-to-table restaurant and received a limited edition print that Needham created especially for the occasion. Most importantly, they gained access to her artistic vision — a priceless bonus.

Such intimate events are popping up through arts organizations across the state. Museums, orchestras and theaters are offering their donors — as well as potential donors — opportunities to get close to the artists and to experience the art form in a more personal way. Sometimes fundraisers, sometimes "friend-raisers" — meant to build relationships with potential donors rather than raise cash on the spot — the special parties are critical to finding and sustaining benefactors, arts officials say.

"We use them as a benefit for donors and to cultivate new patrons," said Renee Pachucki, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s senior director of patron services. "The musicians mix and mingle before and after the performance, they talk about themselves, their lives as musicians. It’s a really close experience with them."

Each arts organization adapts the concept to meet its needs. Last month, the Mile Square Theatre in Hoboken performed Yasmina Reza’s "Art" in painter Tim Daly’s Hoboken studio. Daly painted a piece that was used in the production and hosted guests to a site-specific performance produced while the company’s theater is being renovated.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra hosts several "salon" performances in homes around the state a few times a year. Because the orchestra appears in many venues, the salons allow them to connect with their various audiences, Pachucki said. Each event features a performance by a duo or quartet from the orchestra, while a mix of donors, trustees, subscribers and new audience members are usually invited. No one pays to attend — and, thanks to a supporter standing in as host, the NJSO’s costs are largely limited to paying the musicians — and whole affair is intended to engage audiences more deeply.

Cynthia Aitken opened her Montclair home in May because she wanted to help the organization.

"It was a mix of people we invited and that other people invited. Some we knew and a lot we didn’t," Aitken said. "What’s really special was they weren’t asking for donations. They weren’t charging. It was just people coming over to meet and listen to music. That was pretty special."

At the Montclair Art Museum, "Secret Surprise Soirees" are hosted at the opening of major exhibitions. The evening begins with champagne in the gallery and then moves to a private home for dinner. Board president Frank Walter and his wife, Margo, have hosted several dinner salons in their Montclair home with artists, authors, collectors, curators and gallery owners.

"What we try to do is provide an intimate experience for people, an experience they can’t get on their own," Walter said. "It’s a soft sell, and it’s a long courtship. It’s really about opening a door for them, a door into a more passionate relationship with art."

Krapf says the annual "A Mid-summer’s Night" event relies on the generosity of artists such as Needham, who are willing to help the small arts center by making time for such gatherings in their homes and studios.

"Joan invited a couple who none of us knew, and they will continued to be involved with us," Krapf said. "I don’t know if it was who they were sitting with or what, but when you can leverage those first meetings into longer term relationships, that’s a beautiful thing."